Fifty years ago (I guess that dates me!) I remember a beautiful old locomotive displayed in the depot, a woodburner I think, about post civil war vintage. Is it still there? What became of it? Any photos? Any information appreciated!
The engine is the William Crooks, first engine in Minnesota. It is now displayed at the Transportation Museum in Duluth, MN. The depot itself was shut down for a number of years. A few years back developers tried to get it going again with high end restaurants, etc. I haven’t been there for a few years and heard that things were not going well. A great portion of the building is empty and decaying. All the tracks are gone. It is kind of a sad thing to see. Years ago they had a large O scale model railroad. I am not sure if the railroad was salvaged when the depot closed. I think that the club that operated it is the same one with a beautiful display at Bandana Square in St. Paul. There is some talk of reopening the depot with the expansion of light rail to St. Paul. It will be a number of years before that has a chance of being!
To add to what Luckyboy has said, the part about the William Crooks is very accurate. It was moved to Duluth back in the 70’s. I believe Amtrak used both the Minneapolis and St Paul depots for a few years before the “Amshack” Midway depot was built, and made them obsolete. The Minneapolis ex GN depot was torn down to make way for the new Federal Reserve Bank.
The St Paul depot has never been vacant. It has a surprising amount of office space, 3 stories I believe, wrapped around 3 sides of the atrium. It is the concourse, the part that extends over the tracks, that is empty and in disrepair. If remember correctly, the last time it was used for anything was when the Titanic exhibit came to town.
Over the years there have been many proposals to make use of the concourse, but none have come to pass. As far as I can tell the two main restaurants Leann Chin’s, and Christo’s are doing fine. Leann Chin’s has been there for over 15 years.
As for the Twin Cities Model Railroad Club, very little of the original layout was salvaged. A few structures managed to find their way onto the layout at Bandana Square. I was a member of that club back in the late 80’s when the “new” layout was being built. The club is approaching it’s 70th year.
There has been talk of using the SPUD for commuter rail and all kinds of stuff, I might add. But for that to happen, we’ll need to have commuter rail first.
Looking back, the GN on the river and St. Paul’s union depot would have made perfect companions in a commuter rail system. But I’m getting off thread, so I’ll stop. This is about the William Crooks, not Minnesota politics.
The Lake Superior Transportation Museum is far from run down!!! It is now renamed the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and host a wonderful ho scale railroad, the North Shore Scenic Railroad and is considered the one of the top railroad museum’s in the Northern United States! go to www.lsrm.org to see it.
Relax, you may have misunderstood Luckyboy. The run down comment was directed at the St Paul depot, not Duluth. I knew what he meant, but I can see where it was possible to get confused. The use of paragraphs can be helpful.[:D][;)]
Seeking photographs of the old layout in STUD, to which my father took me regularly during my childhood in the early 1950s. I could be the child in this image (from the Minnesota Historical Society) but I’m not. I have Googled endlessly with a wide variety of key words, some gleaned from these forums and other hits. I have read and searched the current Twin City Model Railroad Museum, the STUD layout’s successor, to no avail. This image is the only one I can find. Any help would be appreciated.
Footnote / crossposting alert, with apologies if not good form: I’m also interested in photographs of the Strauss Trunnion Bascule railway bridge in Galena, Illinois, built in about 1913, which has been demolished, I understand. Cannot find any photos of it online despite extensive searching including in Strauss archives. Photographed it myself 40 years ago but pictures are lost.
Thanks.
karsh - Welcome to Trains.com! [C):-)]
Minnesota Historical Society
There’s a tiny little picture in the bridge in the book at this link…
http://books.google.com/books?id=Y0-vEVUXb3QC&pg=PA63
and a picture of the bridge with the Hawkeye train at this link…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raildudemel/4318112266/
Mike
As Stourbridge lion said: Welcome!
As you discovered apparently no photos of the Galena Bascule Bridge on the internet:
Here is a web site which may lead you to the replacement span(if you know the location(?) : http://bridgehunter.com/ia/dubuque/dubuqe-rail/
Here is another website which is related to Stanford Univ The lead in ad is a pain, but maybe the content may help you:
http://findingaids.stanford.edu/xtf/view?docId=ead/mss/m0163.xml
title :“Guide to the Joseph Strauss Bridge Plans, 1905-1935”
This following website, called “Douglas’ website” will make anyone who is into bridges( Strauss’ Bascule Bridges, possibly near orgasmic. ( put slide show on slow speed, the hand written notes are kinda hard to read.